Josla grit her teeth as the new reports arrived. The counties on the west and east had fallen one by one. Her orders and desperate pleas for the armies to regroup fell on deaf ears. The nobles chose to fend for themselves, forming feeble alliances and even weaker coalitions to fight the forces of Avalon. But this was somewhat expected, since most of those nobles were only helpful when everything was fine in Cridia. They obediently paid their dues and eagerly reinforced the army, but once a crisis struck, they turned their backs on her. However, what was very unexpected and disturbing were the peasants’ uprisings, which broke out just before the arrival of Avalon’s army. Every time there was a precise attack on a certain key structure, or a general riot broke out, leaving the affected city in disarray. The people of Cridia itself revolted against her, willingly supporting this self-proclaimed King.

However, the other reports suggested that he was supported by the Gods. It was unclear to Josla, but certain gossip among the people had led to the conclusion that Goddess Hestia herself had married that man. Josla tore the paper in half and threw it into the fire with an angry scream. However, before she could finish her scream, a sharp knocking on the doors interrupted her fury.

"You may enter!" She looked toward her office’s oak doors.

"Queen Josla, we must talk." One of Berna’s paladins entered her office.

"About what?" She almost barked at the man, but quickly restrained herself since she couldn't afford to lose their support. "Please, sit down."

She waited a moment until the paladin took a seat. Unexpectedly, it was he who asked her sharply, "The forces of Cridia are in disarray. How do you plan to wage a war?"

"The Nobles and their armies are wearing down the Legions of Avalon. By the time they reach the capital, we will dispatch them effortlessly," she lied without hesitation as the paladin looked at her a bit more favourably. "Unfortunately, we can't face them directly because of my late husband's rash decision to attack their capital city."

"I see... So your plan is to allow them to attack this city and then, after they lose most of their soldiers, you want to quell this rebellion?" he asked slowly.

"Yes. We can defend ourselves in this city for years. But I don't believe their leader has that much patience," she sighed, faking regret. "The insurgents use some underhanded tactics, but there is nothing they can do against the walls of Cridia City."

"There was also some disturbing news from the border." He looked at her with barely hidden anger this time. "Falmir was captured."

Josla looked carefully at the man, expecting him to tell her more. She had no idea what he was talking about, but judging by his look, he wasn't making it up. She asked calmly, "How could this have happened?"

•••

Galahad observed the battle from the nearby ridge, wondering how these people could have been appointed as nobles or commanders. After meeting Lord Ban and Lord Blair, Galahad was sure that the enemies of Avalon would pose a serious threat to the conquest. However, the enemy army was hard to watch. Their regiments broke ranks on their own during the simplest manoeuvres. They left the high-ground position just to engage the legion faster, and they ignored the flanks of their formation, leaving it open to any attacks. That was the norm so far. How Cridia stayed independent so far was a mystery to him.

"It is probably the sheer volume of space..." he mused to himself as the enemy reinforcement emerged, running from the forest where they had been hiding since yesterday.

The charging light infantry, backed up by some kind of mercenaries, or even peasants with pikes, were bravely running towards the battlefield. That strategy would probably work, he admitted to himself, if their commander would try a bit harder. Galahad would be willing to admit some points for this strategy, but instead, he heavily sighed. The enemies had almost five hundred metres to cover before they would reach the ranks of his legion. He really shouldn't have underestimated his enemies, as King Theon replied all the time, but it was incredibly hard to argue with all the evidence piling up. Galahad suddenly sat down and looked at the statistics of past battles. His losses were relatively low, but they had started adding up. From the beginning of the campaign, all seven legions operating in Cridia lost almost twenty-five thousand soldiers. The ranks were replenished over time, but the Cridians could only see the dwindling numbers of soldiers in each legion. From their perspective, the armies of Avalon got weaker while they conserved the power.

The assumption Queen Josla made, allowing nobles to act independently, was very sound. Galahad sighed as he missed the time when they had almost unrestricted intel from Queen Josla's palace. Unfortunately, they couldn't sneak more Slimes into Cridia's capital, and those who were left had to be extra careful now. A significant portion of the Slimes had followed Korkas to Avalon to make sure that King Theon knew about his every move. The shape-shifting Noble Slimes, which usually served as Maids and Butlers in Avalon, were, in truth, very skilled assassins and spies. They could change into the shape of any similarly sized object, allowing them to blend perfectly into the background. In some cases, they eliminated and assumed the identity of people who would have easy access to the information the King needed. It was hard to monitor Josla nowadays since she had become much more careful after Korka's death.

•••

The Patriarch of the Holy Church of Berna was an old man. By the grace of his Gods, he lived far longer than was feasible for a Human, allowing him to watch the rise of his Kingdom to full glory. However, his Gods had told him he had already lived past his limits and therefore, he would die by the end of the year. He wasn't afraid because they promised him that he would live in the paradise of their making, so he was even eager to see it. Patriarch Dolren Igaris spent his entire two hundred and seventy-three years of life devoted to spreading the true faith and routing any trace of pagan cults. The only shame he harboured was the fact that his dream of spreading the true faith to the furthest corners of Nilmerthis would not be complete before his death. However, he already decided on the heir to the throne. Marquess Gorge Copriton was a zealous and righteous man who would be an excellent leader for troubled times. Once he returned from cleansing the new lands, Dolren planned to wed him to one of his daughters, the first Princess Cassandra. There was also the issue of the civil war in Cridia. With just a little luck and the blessing of God Ertu, there was a chance to swallow the entirety of Cridia.

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The sound of opening doors interrupted his planning, and he looked at the Chamberlain, who entered the throne room. "Your Excellency. An Envoy from the Kingdom of Avalon has arrived."

"Pft... The boldness of some backwater warlords is unbelievable. What does he want?" Dolren frowned.

"We don't know. He brought a Human man, branded as a slave, on a chain with him."

"That is sin! Execute that heretic immediately!" Dolren Igaris bellowed in fury.

"That wouldn't be wise." The doors opened once again and a tall young man entered the room.

He wore a very well-made pitch-black tuxedo, emanating such great authority that it shocked the Patriarch. His perfectly modelled moustache and beard were black, unblemished by a single grey hair, and his hair was cut short and neat. Everything in the manners and clothes of the man shouted louder than words could that he was a butler. His cold eyes, however, that gazed at the Patriarch, sent shivers down his spine. That man, by any means, should have been a pushover or someone to be overlooked. The sudden and fearful whispers of his Gods warned him, however, to not provoke that man with whatever he was going to say or do. The intensity of these warnings made the Patriarch pale, as he realised that Avalon must be protected by some powerful deity if his Gods reacted in near panic.

"I will listen to you, the Envoy of Avalon," Dolren spoke, much softer this time.

"My name is Sebastian of Avalon. I was assigned the duty of being the Voice of King Theon in the Holy Kingdom of Berna." The Envoy slightly bowed his head for a moment, before continuing soon after. "My mission is to repair the relationship between our countries, which have been strained or even shattered because of the lack of dialogue."

'Lies! Lies! But... Nooo? There is the will to make that become the truth...' The whispers in Dolren's head confused him a bit. He looked at the Envoy without a word. He chose to just nod his head approvingly.

"However, I must bring you a few words of warning, your Excellency. The border city of Falmir was attacked by bandits who disguised themselves as the paladins of Berna." Dolren’s eyes went wide as listened, but Sebastian continued, seemingly without noticing his reaction. "The Fifth Legion, the Death Heralds, reported that the bandits killed most of the male beastkins, some humans who opposed them, and enslaved everyone who was not a human. Naturally, such an act of aggression on one of the cities belonging to the Kingdom of Avalon would have meant war, so that is why we believe it was a bandit raid. The Fifth Legion captured every single one of the bandits, and according to the laws of Avalon, they were swiftly executed."

The heart of Dolren almost stopped when the Envoy urged the slave to raise his head, allowing him to recognize him as the son of Marquis Tyle. In the meantime, Sebastian continued speaking with his emotionless voice. "We captured the bandit leader, who, in his audacity, pretended to be a noble of Berna. In light of his crimes and in the hope of rebuilding the good relationship between our countries..." The Envoy's voice hung in the air for a moment as even time itself seemed to stop, prompting Dolren to pray silently that Marquess Gorge Copriton was safe. "... We executed that lunatic."

As confirmation of their deed, the young Tyle opened the sack he was carrying and lifted the head of Gorge, forever twisted in pain and suffering. Suddenly, the Envoy hit the young man in the neck, which crunched loudly. Hugo Tyle dropped to his knees, dead before he hit the floor. Sebastian took out his handkerchief and cleaned his fist meticulously, after which he dropped it on the body with disgust. "Now everyone who violated the borders of Avalon is dead."

The Patriarch looked in horror at the man, trying to comprehend everything that he had just been witness to. How was it possible that five thousand paladins were exterminated? The more he thought and the longer he looked at the maimed head of his would-be successor, the more he was angry. Cold fury boiled in his heart, only to be quelled by the calm voices of his Gods. They promised him vengeance, but first he must stay calm at all costs. He took a deep breath and covered his eyes with a shaking hand. "Thank you, Lord Sebastian. I will send my paladins to recover the bodies. I can assure you that we will conduct an investigation and discover who might be behind this crime."

"We suspect that Queen Josla is trying to get Berna involved in the internal affairs of the Kingdom of Avalon and Cridia." Sebastian bowed slightly. "I would like to assure you, your Excellency, that my King wishes to live peacefully with his neighbours. I know that my arrival is sudden and you can't give me any answers immediately. That's why I was ordered to stay as long as necessary so we could conduct peace talks smoothly."

"Very well. Chamberlain, prepare the guest quarters for Lord Sebastian and his retainers. We will continue the talks once I have prepared everything." His hundreds of years of experience allowed the Patriarch to remain calm.

After the Envoy left the room and the suffocating aura of impending death subsided greatly, Dolren looked at the head of Marquess Gorge Copriton and the body of Hugo Tyle. That man, Sebastian, was extremely dangerous. Dolren thanked his Gods for their guidance during the encounter and he started thinking about what to do next when a small gold bird landed on his desk. He immediately kneeled and smiled when Jukk'nala spoke to him.

"You did well Dolren. Don't let anger rush your decisions." The Avatar of Jukk'nala spoke with a deep, soothing voice. "That man, and surely his King, must have known that the soldiers they killed in Falmir were paladins of Berna."

"I saw his cold gaze and sensed the poorly masked threat in his voice..." the Patriarch agreed. "But why did he do that?"

"With the others in the Pantheon, we agreed on two possible reasons," the bird explained and ruffled its feathers. "The first option is that they wanted to show you goodwill. They will not try to make an international fuss about what happened, because they truly believe that our nations can coexist. But the second one is far more probable." The bird looked a bit nervous. "Their King is already preparing for war. The death of our paladins would leave you in shock, Dolren, leaving you no choice but to start preparing for war as well."

"What if they really want peace? On one hand, they slew our expedition forces, so we can't perceive them as weak any longer. On the other hand, they still don't want to wage a full-scale war against the Holy Kingdom. Could this be...?"

"Perhaps... You must be cunning and careful, Dolren. We can't see Avalon. We couldn't even see the one who was so arrogantly pretending and blaming bandits, despite his knowledge that it was the Holy Kingdom's doing."

"I felt his disdain, my God..." He sighed slowly and looked at the head of Marques. "I hoped that man would lead the Holy Kingdom. Now that Gorge is dead, I will have to find a new successor. It's a shame that I was never blessed with a son."

"It is a shame, indeed, but despite our might, we never could find the reason why. Be careful, I implore you again. We..." The golden bird hesitated and after a sigh, he admitted, "We can't claim the souls of the paladins that lost their lives in Falmir."

"What does that mean?" Dolrus raised his head and looked straight into the troubled eyes of his God’s Avatar.

"Some powerful deities must support Avalon. We will investigate as much as possible, but you must not provoke the ire of their King. We must be cautious and patient, however, we must ultimately kill him or make him our ally."

"Hmmm... I could send one of my daughters as my Envoy..." Dolrus hummed.

"She will wed him, forcing him into an alliance with the Holy Kingdom," Jukk'nala decreed.

"She will convert him or she will kill him," Dolrus agreed immediately.